Lawmakers eye end to bicam talks on Dec. 17 — Win Gatchalian

Senate finance committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian said that lawmakers are aiming to finish the deliberations of the bicameral conference committee on the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026 on Wednesday, December 17.

“‘Yan ang target namin (that’s our target),” Gatchalian said in an ambush interview when asked if the bicam meetings will be wrapped up within the day.

The senator earlier said that the bicam plans to consolidate the proposed budget of agencies and have it transmitted to Malacañang before New Year.

“Ang next ng bicam is putting the budget together. ‘Yun ang madugo—physically and also computation-wise. So that’s why kanina nagusap kami ni Mika (Suansing) ng schedule because we want to transmit this to Malacañang, enough time before the New Year’s, kasi ang cut-off ay New Year’s. So kaya naman,” Gatchalian said.

(The next thing for the bicam is putting the budget together. That's tedious both physically and also computation-wise. So that's why Rep. Mika Suansing and I discussed the schedule earlier because we want to transmit this to Malacañang, enough time before the New Year's, because that’s the cut-off. So it’s feasible.)

“Ang problema, mga members ba natin ay nagbabakasyon na o hindi? Kasi kailangan ma-ratify ito eh. Sa kanila (House of Representatives) mas maraming members, 318, sa amin 24. So kailangan namin ma-verify kung meron kaming quorum ‘pag mag-raratify,” he added.

(The problem is whether our members are on vacation already or not? Because the budget needs to be ratified. The House has more members, 318, and we have 24. So we need to verify if we have a quorum once we ratify.)

According to House Appropriations committee chairperson Mikaela Suansing, the bicam has yet to tackle the budget of 11 more agencies, including that of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

So far, the bicam has approved the 2026 budget of the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Congress, the Office of the Vice President (OVP), and the Office of the President (OP) among other agencies. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News